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Building off of the reports that the Cleveland Browns are expected to fire head coach Mike Pettine (and GM Ray Farmer) after today's game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, the rumors have already started regarding who owner Jimmy Haslam will want to interview to be the team's next head coach.
At the top of the Browns' list could be Adam Gase, who is currently the offensive coordinator of the Chicago Bears. The Browns were interested in Gase a couple of years ago, but it was tough to interview him because the Denver Broncos -- the team he was with at the time -- were in the middle of a playoff run. Mary Kay Cabot of the Plain Dealer says that the Browns will "go hard after Gase," and that the groundwork for an interview with him has already been laid out.
Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network also says the Browns are expected to interview Gase, but he added two other names to the equation: Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Teryl Austin, and assistant head coach/offensive line coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, Doug Marrone:
Names expected to interview for #Browns in the coming days: Teryl Austin & Adam Gase. Doug Marrone likely, as well.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) January 3, 2016
That's not all, though. In the most click-bait tweet one could generate, Pro Football Talk is linking former Philadelphia Eagles head coach Chip Kelly to the Browns:
Plugged-in source just said to keep an eye on Chip Kelly to the Browns.
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) January 3, 2016
There could be up to seven teams (49ers, Browns, Colts, Dolphins, Giants, Saints, and Titans) seeking new head coaches, and Haslam is going to want to act fast. In the past, Cleveland wasn't a very desirable landing spot. The same might hold true for 2016, but at least one report says that Cleveland isn't the worst landing spot:
From a coach that was in running for both jobs last year, "used to be Cle, now it's San Fran" https://t.co/1kPPQfQMvE
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) January 3, 2016
We'll have non-stop coverage of the Browns' coaching and front office rumors throughout the day. For now, we'll take a brief reprieve to actually cover the Steelers-Browns game, which kicks off in less than an hour (from the time this post was written).